Down Where the Calves Can Get It!

I have had several great mentors in my life. One of them gave me a simple piece of advice about preaching that I will never forget. A.T. Pate said, "Put it down where the calves can get it and the cows will get it too." Growing up on a cattle farm, I knew what he meant. If the hay is so high that only the cows can reach it, the calves will go hungry. But if the calves can reach the hay, the adults will eat also. He was trying to communicate the simple truth that preachers can easy "go over the heads" of their audience. But if you present messages that the beginner can understand, then the advanced student will get it also.

Along these same lines, one teacher once told me that if an explanation of a biblical passage is very complicated, then it is likely wrong. God means for us to understand his message and it was directed at the common man (John 8:31-33; cf. Acts 4:13).

One of the great challenges of any preacher is that he is speaking to such a wide variety of people. In any given audience there are unbelievers, doubters, skeptics, spiritual beginners, advanced Bible students, spiritually immature people, spiritually mature people, Biblically ignorant people, former preachers, Ph.Ds, teens, and fifth graders. How can any preacher address the needs of all these people each week? "Put it down where the calves can get it, and the cows will get it too," A.T. said.

I believe that regardless of your spiritual development, we all want to be challenged from the sermon. I have two master's degrees in theology and ministry. I can talk to you about the documentary hypothesis of the Pentateuch, the counter-cosmic incantation of Job, the Q-source hypothesis of the gospels, the debate over the Greek preposition eis, the theological tension between transcendence and immanence, the date of Revelation, or the evidence for alternate endings to the Gospel of Mark. Most of this, however, would be of no real help to the person sitting in the pew.

The education I have received helps me to prepare lessons to properly "handle the word of truth" and represent God's truth accurately (2 Timothy 2:15). Once arriving at the truth of God's message in my study, I then want to present the heart of God's message to you from the pulpit (read 2 Timothy 2:14; cf. Matt. 23:23).

My goal in preaching is not that you leave the sermon with a history lesson, a grammar lesson, or even a theological lesson. The goal of preaching is that the hearers leave with a life lesson (1 Timothy 1:5; James 1:22-27). Sometimes you may feel that the sermon was "over your head" at other times you may feel it was not "challenging enough." I will do my best to make sure that everyone leaves the sermon with something they could reach.